1 Psychology 320: Psychology of Gender and Sex Differences Lecture 21

2 Office Hour Invitations November 4 th, 11:30-12:30 Kenny

3 Announcement On Monday, November 7 th, the first 20 minutes of class will involve a discussion of the community service learning (CSL) component of the course. If you are interested in CSL, please be sure to attend.

4 Neoanalytic Theories of Gender Development 1. What theories illustrate the neoanalytic, gynocentric view? (continued)

5 1. review the principle concepts proposed by Karen Horney. 2. discuss Horney’s explanation for the development of personality differences between the sexes. 3. describe Mahler’s process of separation-individuation. By the end of today’s class, you should be able to: 4. discuss Chodorow’s explanation for the development of personality differences between the sexes.

6  In her theory, Horney proposed five primary concepts: the safety need, basic hostility, basic anxiety, neurotic needs, and neurotic personality types. What theories illustrate the neoanalytic, gynocentric view? (continued)

7  She suggested that females are more likely than males to develop neurotic personality types because they are more likely to be devalued by their primary caretakers.  Thus, Horney attributed gender differences between the sexes to social/cultural factors (vs. biological instincts).

8  Other arguments put forth by Horney:  Male dominance (i.e., devaluing of females, patriarchy) is the product of feelings of inferiority in relation to females.  “Penis envy” among females is symbolic of a desire for the power experienced by males.  Competitiveness among males reflects efforts to compensate for feelings of inferiority in relation to females.

9 “From the biological point of view, woman has in motherhood, or in the capacity for motherhood, a quite indisputable and by no means negligible superiority. This is most clearly reflected in the unconscious of the male psyche in the boy’s intense envy of motherhood. We are familiar with this envy as such, but it has hardly received due consideration as a dynamic factor. When one begins, as I did, to analyze men only after fairly long experience of analyzing women, one receives a most surprising impression of the intensity of this envy of pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood.” (Horney, 1926/1973, p. 10)

10  Later in her career, Horney focused on gender neutrality rather than feminism: “We should stop bothering about what is feminine …. Standards of masculinity and femininity are artificial standards …. Differences between the two sexes certainly exist, but we shall never be able to discover what they are until we have first developed our potentialities as human beings. Paradoxical as it may sound, we shall find out about these differences only if we forget about them. (Horney, 1935).

11 2. Nancy Chodorow’s Theory of Gender Development  Chodorow’s theory emphasizes the early bond between mother and child.  Chodorow argued that predominantly female parenting produces female and male adults with distinct emotional needs:  In her theory, Chodorow draws upon Mahler’s theory of separation-individuation.

12  Females:  Identity formation is relatively easy; involves adopting a feminine identity similar to their mother.  As girls, identify with their primary caregiver; emotional unity develops between mother and daughter.

13  Try to re-enact the emotional unity experienced in the mother-daughter relationship in intimate relationships with men; these efforts are often unsuccessful because men do not have the same relational needs:  As adults, recognize the societal notion that femininity is inferior and experience ambivalence about their identification with a negatively valued gender category.

14 “But families organized around women’s mothering and male dominance create incompatibilities in women’s and men’s relational needs. In particular, relationships to men are unlikely to provide for women satisfaction of the relational needs that their mothering by women and the social organization of gender have produced. The less men participate in the domestic sphere, and especially in parenting, the more this will be the case (Chodorow, 1978, p. 199).

15  Males:  As boys, are unable to identify with their primary care- giver; nevertheless, have a strong sense of attachment to and “oneness” with their mothers: “Underlying, or built into, core male gender identity is an early, nonverbal, unconscious, almost somatic sense of oneness with the mother, an underlying sense of femaleness that continually, usually unnoticeably, but sometimes insistently, challenges and undermines the sense of maleness” (Chodorow, 1978, 109).

16  Identity formation is relatively difficult; involves: (b) developing a conception of masculinity with which to identify. (a) separating from and rejecting the feminine identity of their mother (i.e., “fleeing from femininity”). Results in a fear of females, contempt for females, and devaluation of femininity.

17  Chodorow’s theory suggests that shared parenting between females and males would reduce negative attitudes toward females and, thus, result in more egalitarian gender roles and relationships.  Research (e.g., Kaschack, 1992) has not fully supported this assertion (see also Chodorow, 1999).

18 Neoanalytic Theories of Gender Development 1. What theories illustrate the neoanalytic, gynocentric view? (continued)